Aztecs' QB Ryan Katz has not given up on NFL dream

From the moment he tried to get up off the turf and hobble back into the game, Ryan Katz knew something was very wrong with his left lower leg.

He was carted off the field at Nevada’s Mackay Stadium, and examined by the Aztecs’ team doctor. Even before X-rays were taken, the doctor told Katz he thought it was more serious than a sprain.

“That was pretty tough to swallow,” said Katz, a fifth-year senior who transferred to SDSU from Oregon State in the spring hoping to get one more season as a starting quarterback.

X-rays revealed that Katz had broken his left fibula close to the ankle and torn the ligaments down the side of his leg.

The first couple days after the injury were rough.

“I think the first day or so after the injury, I was thinking about how my senior season was over, and how I’m not going to be able to play again,” Katz said. “You ask yourself why things happen sometimes. But they do.”

Then, Katz’s glass-half-full attitude kicked in.

“You’ve just got to move on,” he said. “Once I started thinking down the road a little bit, I knew right off the bat that I wasn’t going to just not play anymore.

“I didn’t want to go out like that.”

He decided that he was going to get through the injury, do all the rehab he needed, and come back ready to show NFL scouts that he was worthy of a shot at pro football.

Days after the injury, Katz had surgery to fix his leg. Doctors bolted a plate to the bone and held it in place with tightropes instead of metal screws. This does away with the need for a second surgery to remove screws.

“They work as screws. They go through the fibula and connect it to the tibia, and they just help to support, and help the healing process,” Katz said.

Now, all he can do is wait for the break to heal.

Katz can’t put weight on the foot yet. But he’s shed cumbersome crutches for a scooter-like contraption that allows him to brace his injured leg on a padded seat as he skates the four-wheeled device along with his good foot. The hard cast has also been replaced by an air cast that allows him to work on flexibility.

He’ll travel with the team to Wyoming this week, and he’s been back at practice with the Aztecs for a while. He sits in on all the quarterback meetings – offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig has taken to calling him “Coach Katz” – and helps the younger guys as much as he can.

Katz returned to the field with the team on Senior Day, when SDSU played Air Force, and he watched from the sidelines as Adam Dingwell led the team to a win.

That was tough too.

“The worst is watching the games and kinda sitting there knowing you were out there a few weeks ago, but not being able to be out there with those guys,” Katz said. “That was pretty tough not to be out there.

“But I’m just trying to stay positive. I want to play football again, and I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen.”

Doctors say it could take up to four months for Katz to return to action. But the quarterback is hoping to defy the odds and make an early return.

He’s already working out with the team, doing upper body lifts, and throwing from a seated position.

“Just to keep my arm going,” he said. “I can get on the field and start throwing and doing some on the field running after about three months – so after the first of the (new) year.

“I’m just hoping for the best. Going to rehab hard. I’ll be back in time for pro day.”